Dancing in Shadows and Magic
by xianflux
Summary: An erstwhile tale of Movieverse Illyana / Magik, focus on Kitty, Colossus, Sam, Dani, Yana, Jubes. Set after X3.
1. Chapter 1

All characters belong to Marvel, yadda yadda.

* * *

Loss. Sacrifice. The words weighted heavily upon the large mansion and it's sprawling grounds, at Graymalkin Lane. There had been many a low blow dealt to the mutants who went to school at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, from the introduction of Rogue and the battle at the Statue of Liberty, to Logan's past rearing it's ugly head with William Stryker, to the Phoenix's return and the 'cure'.

They'd lost people, one after another. Scott Summers, Charles Xavier, Jean Grey. They'd have lost Logan too, but even the gruff loner couldn't bring himself to leave the grounds after the kids had already lost so much. He was one of the few adults they had left.

But those losses weren't the only losses that the scions of Xavier had known, there had been losses before these, and there were doubtlessly going to be losses in the future.

* * *

The memorial gardens were a place of higher-than-usual traffic at Xavier's. Formerly only those with memories of the people immortalized in the Garden made the trek from the school to 'talk' with the departed. Yet since Xavier, Summers, and Grey had all met their ends, the gardens had become a more highly visited area. The first few weeks it was a highly embarrassing area, with everyone wary of intruding in another's grief.

As the weeks passed, the students fell into a bit of an unspoken schedule so as to not end up all going down there at the same time. Some, however, ended up going in groupings anyway. Such as the trio of Rogue, Kitty, and Jubilee. They had paid their respects as was usual, and while Jubilee was trying not to look at either of her two friends who had damp eyes, she grinned and gave their arms a tug.

"C'mon, let's look around. I've never seen the whole Garden, and I heard Miss Munroe saying that there's other memorials down here..." Jubilee fought their fighting her, and after a few moments she saw the other two give up. Kitty much more reluctantly then Rogue, for some reason.

"Are you sure, Jubes?" Kitty sounded like Jubilee had suggested breaking the rules for something, which didn't make a whole lot of sense to Jubes, and even Rogue was looking curious.

"What's up with you chica? Just looking around isn't disrespectful, we'll be mindful!" Well, as mindful as they could be. It was sort of like a graveyard after all..

Kitty didn't fight, but she didn't look too convinced, as she dropped in behind Jubilee and Rogue, while Jubilee shared a 'what got into her?' look with Rogue, earning her a shrug in return.

"Damned if I know" the striped haired girl mouthed at Jubilee.

"Woah. Check out that statue. He's bigger than Peter!" Rogue was surprised, the Statue had to be at least a good seven feet tall on it's own, not counting the two feet it had above the base it rested on.

"No kidding chica, who's this one of? He looks extra hunky.. John Proudstar, Thunderbird. Waitaminute. Wasn't he part of one of the old X-men teams and erm..?" Jubilee swallowed a little there, thinking it'd be a little rude to say he bit the bullet in front of his own memorial.

"He sacrificed himself so that the rest of the team would survive." Kitty answered them from behind the two of them, then frowned at them when they gave her suspicious looks. "Just because you don't know the history of the mansion and the team doesn't mean I don't, okay? If you're not going to respect the people here, let's just go okay?"

"It's okay Kitty, relax.." Rogue and Jubilee shared another look. Kitty had been wound up since the losses, but she was a bit extra wound up here.

"Oh hey, is that a .. sword?" Rogue sounded surprised by what she saw, as she turned from the memorial of Proudstar to cross the garden and hop over a knee high hedge to get a look at another statue.

"Oh wow, it is. Look at the armor, I wonder what color it was.."

"You and me both chica, and look at her face.. she's beautiful, and she can't be any older then we are! Who was this?"

Both were dropping down to move some of the flowers around the statues base so they could read the plaque. But Kitty's voice interrupted them, sounding rawer then they'd have expected.

"She wasn't older then us, she was younger. She was Fourteen, when she died."

"Kitt... are you okay?" Both young women asked it almost simultaneously, seeing the fact Kitty's eyes were wet with unshed tears. They didn't have to think to hard to realize some of the flowers in front of the memorial were from Kitty, but there were enough flowers to make it seem like more then one person brought them.

Jubilee had a sudden burst of insight though. "Wait! I've seen pictures of her before, I think! She was a blond with bright blue eyes, wasn't she?" Jubilee looked a bit guilty at the look Kitty was throwing her.

"Her names Illyana. She was my first roommate." With that, Kitty turned and stalked off.

"Well.. that went well." Jubes sighed and shrugged. "Should we go after her?"

"Nah, I figure we giver her some time to pull herself back together otherwise she's gonna be raw all night. What's the plaque say?"

Jubilee lightly moved aside a group of flowers, and ran her hand over the plaque so she could get a read of it. Clearly, whoever came out here didn't seem to care to read the plaque, and didn't want others seeing it either. Jubilee had a pretty good idea who, when she read it.

" _'Illyana Nikolievna Rasputina.__She sacrificed herself so that the world could live.'_ Sacrificed herself? I'm pretty sure I don't remember anything about that in the stories.." Jubilee trailed off. She'd been at the school a year longer then Rogue, so it had to have been before her own time.

"Rasputina. Do you think that means she's Peter's sister?"

"Yeah, I do. Like remember in social studies, Miss Munroe was talking about how not all countries that families use the same last names, especially for male and female? That's the way their name would be anglicized for his sister.. C'mon, we better go catch up with Kitty."

* * *

The next few days the two didn't ask Kitty about who Illyana had been, as their friend pretended the subject had never come up, and mysteriously didn't hear whenever they tried to ask. Rogue seeing how important this might be to Kitty thought to ask Peter, but thought better of it when she'd actually gotten face to face with him. So Rogue let the subject drop.

Jubilee, however, was not so easily daunted. Nor was she so skittish as Rogue. If Kitty didn't want to talk about it, and Peter likely felt the same, well there were still other people to ask! In this case, Jubilee found herself knocking on Miss Munroe's office door, and slipping inside when bidden to enter.

"What can I do for you, Miss Lee? Not detention again?"

"Uh no, not yet Miss Munroe. But like, I was out in the Garden and I kinda had some questions ya know, an I didn't know who else to ask then you?" Just a bit of timidness in her voice, but curiosity as well. Storm would want to be helpful after all, right? The new Headmaster seemed to be taken in so far, and gestured for Jubilee to sit down.

"I can try to answer, Jubilee. What did you want to know?"

"Well, uhm. There's a statue for a young woman down there who barely looked older then I am and well.. her name was Illyana? The plaque mentioned her sacrifice had saved the world.." Jubilee let that hang there, while watching Storm for reactions.

And there was certainly a reaction. Storm's face looked saddened for a moment at the mention of Illyana's name, as if at a terrible tragedy, or a mistake.

"Illyana.. Peter always called her his little snowflake. He was quite right, she was as precious as she was unique. Illyana was a very troubled girl, and her powers made her life very complicated. When New York, maybe the whole world, was threatened to be destroyed Illyana over extended her powers, sacrificed herself to stop the darkness from expanding." Storm looked as sad as such a tale should make her, but it was more then that. Jubilee could tell there was quite a bit about this whole bit that Storm wasn't saying.

"So like, she actually saved the world?" Jubilee had to ask, because what if that was the part they were tiptoing about in not wanting to talk about?

"Oh, she saved the world alright. None of us would have put her up to it, would have asked her of it. She walked into the center of the conflict, and before anyone knew what was happening, she was ending it single handedly.. You.. may have heard some of us talk about that night. It was the night of Inferno." Storm frowned again.

Jubilee's eyes widened a little. Inferno. The older X-men didn't mention that night often, but when they did it was usually in a 'well, it wasn't as bad as...' kind of tone. She'd glimpsed over the summary of the altercation at Alcatraz Storm had entered into the X-men mission log. There had been definite comparisons between Alcatraz and Inferno.

* * *

After her little talk with Storm, Jubilee went to see what the computers would turn up. She'd found even with her Jr X-man access, she wasn't allowed to access the file for Inferno. She'd briefly considered asking Storm if she could get access to it, but realized she'd just get told no. They didn't have access to that file and some others for reasons, so trying to get around that probably wouldn't do any good.

However, she did find where she'd seen a picture of Illyana before. Professor Xavier had always liked to put students artwork on viewing in the library. Up along the shelves around the whole room, were portraits and paintings done by students over the years. She recognized one of them as Peter Rasputin's painting style – he'd done one of her the other year in Art. It was of a young remarkably beautiful young blond woman.

"Jeeze. I'm almost surprised she doesn't have wings, she looks close enough to an angel."

"Someone called?" A light voice asked from behind her. A light male voice. Jubilee started, and looked over her shoulder to see Warren Worthington smirking at her, before glancing up at the painting.

"She is beautiful, but she looks young. She looks kind of like a younger version of the girl Peter's latest painting is of." Warren pursed his lips, then shrugged. "What's she got your attention for, Jubes?"

"Oh, erm.. well. I saw her memorial statue down in the Garden, and I've been trying to learn some stuff about Illyana since then. How'd you know.. "

"Roommate, duh. At least you realized it was a dumb question though. Illyana, I knew it was something with an I. Peter doesn't talk about her much to anyone but Kitty. About the only time I actually see those two talk is about her, otherwise he's too shy to talk to her and she's always mooning over someone new.."

Jubes couldn't help but smirk a little at the touch of annoyance that Kitty hadn't swooned over him. Warren seemed to think that all of the girls should, and most of the time he got his wish.

"Jealousy isn't becoming of you, Warren. C'mon, we better get to class or we're gonna be late.."

She wasn't making much head way in the Mystery, but she would. It was just a matter of time.

* * *

It turned out, however, that all she needed was a little patience. With all that had been going on, the new English teacher – a purple haired mid-20's something glamor model from England! - decided it would be best if they all wrote something about people they'd lost who meant the most to them, to read to the class. Something about it helping them come to terms with all the loss, and those who'd coped the best could help the others who hadn't coped as well yet.

It sounded like a load of rubbish to Jubilee, but she'd seen the look Kitty and Peter had shared when Miss Braddock gave them the assignment. So all Jubilee had to do was write her own paper. She knew her loss wouldn't surprise anyone – since it was her parents. She couldn't remember much of them, but she missed them still. Like quite a few of the students at Xavier's, she was a ward of the school. Then she just had to bide her time until Thursday, when presentations were due.

* * *

Thursday finally came, and when Miss Braddock asked for volunteers to go first, only one person volunteered. Surprising everyone, including her friends and Miss Braddock, was the fact it was Kitty Pryde. Jubilee gave her the 'are you insane?' look, but Kitty ignored her as she slipped out of the seat to march like a soldier to the podium. Like a soldier going to their death by firing squad.

But the normally shy Kitty wasn't backing down from anyones looks today, and she flashed a smile at Peter, before clearing her throat a few times. Jubilee was surprised she could even talk, Kitty usually got pretty camera shy about having that much attention on her at once.

"This assignment was about losing someone we miss the most. I think Miss Braddock probably figured we'd be writing about a family member, or the Professor, Dr Grey, or Mr Summers. I didn't write about any of the above, although the person I'm writing about was the closest thing I've ever come to a sister."

A small sniff, barely audible from Kitty. Jubilee though was frowning. Her and Kitty were close, they'd been friends for a couple of years now, but they weren't close enough to call each other sisters.

"When I first met Illyana, it was by paper. I'd been writing her for six months before she finally came to Xavier's, and I got to meet her. She was everything her letters made her about to be. Beautiful, innocent, carefree. She was delighted by everything, and if anyone would have said she was at a disadvantage growing up in Siberia, they never saw the pure glee she took in learning something new. I'll never forget Illyana learning how to use a computer."

A smile crossed Kitty's lips, and then she looked a little embarrassed and looked back at her paper on the podium.

"Sometimes, I was jealous of my sister. She was smart, funny, cute, beautiful, and she made rooms light up just by walking into them. But more then any of that, was how strong she was. She didn't always have an easy time of things, but you'd be hard pressed to guess that. She never gave up on anything, and it didn't matter how hard she had to struggle, she'd make it work."

"Illyana was strong, and even in the end she had her innocence. She taught me, us.. the meaning of sacrifice, when she sacrificed herself to save all of us." She gestured at the whole room, and beyond. "Illyana could've been like Doctor Grey, given in and destroyed the world. But she had the strength to stop herself, and save the world instead."

"That's why Illyana Rasputin is the person I miss the most, and why I believe in Magik." Kitty shrugged, and wiped at the tears in her eyes and moved to sit down. Jubilee noticed while she was moving however, that Kitty's paper she'd been 'reading' from was blank, beyond a series of wet marks that looked like she'd been crying on the page.

So Illyana had been like Doctor Grey had? Did Kitty mean she was nuts, or that the young woman was like all powerful? She'd been hoping to learn more during Peter's speech, but he focused on his brother instead, who had been a Russian astronaut.

* * *

Jubilees room was a mess, as it usually was. Neither her or Rogue were exactly the pinnacle of role models when it came to keeping their domain nice and neat. Clothes littered the floor – it was sort of bound to happen when one had as many clothes as the both of them did. Even if Rogue had taken the Cure, once she'd gotten over the first week or two of dressing like a slut she'd gone back to being mostly covered. Jubilee had teased her mercilessly over the sudden change back to mostly covering clothes, but Rogue tried to claim it was because she was a southerner and New York was cold.

Which Jubilee didn't believe for a moment, of course.

"Like watch where you step Kitty, those clothes might be dirty but I don't wanna see them ruined!"

"Then maybe you should put them in something like.. oh, I don't know, a hamper?" Kitty smirked at her before hopping onto Jubes bed and stretching out to peer at Jubes, who was at her desk surfing the web on the schools Internet.

"Pfft. Hampers are for losers. So how many people have come up to you? You like threw gasoline on a brush fire, Kit."

Kitty was looking confused. "Come up to me? About what? I haven't had anyone talk to... oh, you mean about Illyana." The confused look was replaced by a frown, and a shake of her head. "No one. Everyones been really respectful of my feelings. Er. Well. Sam and Dani came to talk with me, I guess."

At this, Kitty shrugged. She usually didn't spend much time around Sam or Dani. They'd been around as long as Kitty had been, but they just didn't seem to get along very well.

"Why would.. oh. Did they know her too?"

"She was in their class, so she hung out with them and their friends quiet a bit. One year changed the school quite a bit, Jubes. Before you got here, there weren't as many students, things were a lot looser and a bit more free, a bit more chaotic too. The Professor kinda clamped down on all that after we lost Illyana though."

"Sounds like she made a pretty big impact.. how come most of the students don't know about her, if she saved the world? Seems like a big thing ya know?" Here was the question Jubilee had been waiting to hear since finding out about her, and Kitty might answer her!

"Err. Well. Illyana's a touchy subject for people, Jubes. She got on the bad side of some people real easy, and I can't say others were always in the wrong even though I want too. Illyana could be a handful. And well, no matter which side of the fence you were on about her, it became painful to think about her afterward. For those of us who liked her, she was gone. For the people who didn't, she'd proved wrong by saving the day, and they were sure she was rotten to the core.."

"Think about it this way Jubes. You know how we all feel about Pyro and his running off with Magneto? Some people felt that way about Illyana.."

"Why?" Simple, to the point, yet asked very softly.

"Cuz she was powerful, Jubes. At Alcatraz, Dr Grey made me feel like a gnat being swatted around. That's how Illyana made everyone feel. She was a teleporter, but not like Mr Wagner. She'd jump through space and time, just like that. She didn't always have the best aim though, so it got a bit adventuresome if we were taking her portals anywhere.."

"Woooah. Waitaminute. She could time travel!? Are you serious?"

"Yeah. She couldn't always control it, but she could move through time. Prof always said she might be able to do more if she got older."

"So like, why'd she wear the armor and have the sword, if she was a porter? Was it just so she could attack or something like?" Jubes screwed her face up. That didn't make all that much sense to her. Armor and a sword, seemed kinda silly.

"You're going to think I'm silly when I say this.. Yana was more then just a mutant though, Jubes. She was a witch. Sword and Sorcery, magic. It's why she chose the name Magik, and she was pretty handy at it."

Jubilee was grinning like a dork. "Wait, Magic? Like Harry Potter? Did she have a wand?"

A pillow was thrown across the room at her. "I'm being serious."

"Yeah, sure Kit. Look, I've got homework to do, when you wanna tell me the rest I'll talk to ya tomorrow, okay?" With that, Jubes hopped up and slipped out of the room.

Leaving Kitty sitting with her head in her hands. "No one ever believes that part until they see it for themselves. You were Magic though, weren't you Yana? Sometimes I wonder if I'm just not making up memories after all this time.. Peter and I never talk about it, and Miss Munroe doesn't think it's healthy I still dwell.."


	2. Hayseed & The Library

The shop wasn't exactly Jubilee's usual hang out spot, but in this case it was kind of unavoidable. Since it's where the guy she wanted to talk with spent most of his time, outside of classes. He'd been working on the beater he'd bought for the last two years. Sometimes he got some help from the faculty or other students, but most of the time Sam Guthrie slogged through fixing up his car all on his lonesome. Something that, oddly, Jubilee never recalled hearing him complaining about.

Probably because it gave him a place he could listen to country music on the radio, and not get harped at. Jubilee just grimaced at the radio when she slipped into the open garage and walked towards his car, leaning against Logan's jeep parked next to it while examining Sam with his head poked under the hood.

"Heya Hayseed, whatcha doin?"

Sam just grunted, finished what he was working on, and a moment later pulled his head out of the hood. His hands were pretty greasy, and he had a few streaks on his cheeks. "Well, ah am trying to get this gasket fixed so Frank quits leakin oil all over the place, but I just ain't havin no luck Jubes. What ya out here for, ain't normal to see ya out here less ya trying to con someone into a mall trip."

Busted. Jubilee tried to remember what she'd decided she was going to tell Sam, but there just wasn't a whole lot she could say. She was friendly enough with him and Dani, but they just were different kinds of students, with different upbringings. It wasn't that they were enemies, so much as parts of very different social circles within the school.

"Well uh.. to be honest Sam, I kinda wanted to ask you some questions about an old student that I guess you were friends with?"

Sam just nodded, looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged. "Go ahead and shoot Jubes, ain't promisin that I'm going to answer though. Somethings are personal like, ya know, but I'll try an help ya out."

That was the Sam Guthrie that Jubilee knew. A bit wary about her gossiping ways, but always willing to lend a hand. He was one of the respectable types, always trying to be an adult even though he was still just a senior. Although with all those siblings of his, he probably had to play an authority kind of roll back home.

"Well uh, I was wondering what you could tell me about Illyana Rasputin." A touch of hope to her voice, without going specifics. That was good, right?

"Kinda thought that's who you'd be asking about, after what ah heard about Kitty's speech in English a few days ago. Well Jubes, I probably can't tell ya a whole lot but lesse. Yana. Pretty girl, Yana. When I first met her, she always had a smile for everyone, no matter the day. Longer I knew her, less that was the case though. She was a spitfire, makes Mr Logan look relaxed. Some folks said ya was taking your life in your hands, if ya argued with Yana. People that said that were just full of it and afraid of Yana though, she didn't ever mean no one harm."

"Why was everyone so afraid of her?"

"Lot like Mr. Logan in that way, too. Just had a way about her, an she was powerful Jubes. For a few of us, the stuff that went down at Alcatraz was like a reminder a the past, seeing one a our own with power none of us got walkin the line. Yana never did that though, mind ya. She never lost control like Doc Grey did, no matter how close she mighta came. Peter an Kitty, an I reckon me an Dani too, we helped keep her grounded much as we could. Weren't all that many folks who could even talk much with her, cuz of the fear."

"Everyone was just afraid of her because she was powerful, Sam?"

Sam frowned, and thumbed his chin a bit. "Well, that ain't really the whole truth of it.. But see here, Jubes, there were a lot of things bout Illyana that didn't make much sense. She was younger'n all of us, not even ten when we first met her ya know. Then she had her accident and well, next thing we know she's the same age as Kitty, Dani, an ah. So she fell in with us an her brother, but mostly with Kitty. She loved Petey, but she spent the most time with Kitty. Only one she really felt comfortable with after she became a teenager, ah reckon."

"Wait, wait, she became a teenager? From a little kid?"

"Well.. it's a complicated thing, an it ain't my place to tell ya that story Jubes. She was powerful, ya know? Most powerful teleporter we ever seen yet. Couple times, when the X-men were in a rush like, she teleported em quick like. Not just a mile or two, like Mr Wagner neither. She was bouncing them around the globe, thousands a miles in the blink of an eye. Yana could even time travel." He shook his head again, as if every time he thought of time travel he just wanted to say something about how 'don't that beat all? Real time travel'.

"So uhm. She ended up sacrificing herself?"

"Oh yeah, Yana saved the whole world, Jubes. Whole Universe, probably even. Knew she had it in her the whole time, but she never believed us she had it in her until right at the end. Part of why a lot of us get choked up, or don't like talkin bout her. She'd been through a lot here at school, at her homes, an then Inferno came along and it just.. it was bad. There was a whole lot of apologizing after Inferno, all the people who'd been wrong bout Yana. Course none of us wanted to hear it, most of us we'd a rather she'd been selfish and stayed with us, then did herself in, but what can ya say? She was gone, an all the prats who made fun of her or didn't trust her while she was here were still around. Life ain't always fair, that way."

Sam shrugged again, grunted.

"So uh Sam, when I was talking to Kitty, she said that Yana was er. Well, a witch."

Sam nearly dropped his wrench.

"Ah-ha! I knew it, Kitty was lying to me!"

Her hope of catching Kitty in a lie died however, at the shake of Sam's head.

"Nah, just surprised she told ya that Jubes. Kitty was closer to Yana'n the rest of us. Peter was her sister, yeah, but Kitty and Yana chose to be as close as sisters could be. Kitty was the one who had to defend Yana to everyone, cuz that's why everyone was afraid of her. Yana wasn't just no run of the mill hocus pocus witch, Jubilee, but she was a demon sorceress."

"Wait.. what? Demons?" Jubilee was blinking. Were Kitty and Guthrie taking her in on a prank? But he sounded far too serious, and looked so sad.

"Me, ahm a god fearing man Jubes, an so are a lot of others here at the school. Quite a few people were terrified of Yana when they found out what she was, or that she commanded demons. Was even worse, when people found out she started turning into one.. Ahm a god fearing man, Jubes, but Yana was never deserving a lot of the things that got said to her or about her. Wasn't nothing hateful bout that girl, no matter what kinda folk she consorted with."

"Right.. demon sorceress. Kitty was roomates with a demonic magic user." Jubilee just leaned against the jeep staring off into space. The world, it appeared, had been turned on it's head and everyone was just a bit crazy.

"Thanks Sam... I think."

The whole world was insane. Or maybe it was just better to not ask about Illyana Rasputin. So far, all that seemed to do was make her head hurt.

What _was_ the deal with this girl? A teleporter, a witch, and everyone was reluctant to talk about her. Why? Well, so far she'd gotten a lot of hocus pocus talk. Which meant she needed to go to someone fairly grounded in reality next. Oddly, the practical one was the one who made illusions. _Go figure_.

* * *

Jubes found Dani Moonstar down at the stables, taking care of the white stallion that she had a strong suspicion was actually hers. She'd never spent that much time around Dani, they just didn't quite click. For starters, Dani was all about nature, and from Colorado. She'd seen nature that didn't have smog, where Jubilee had always thought that such a thing didn't exist except as a fairy tale.

That, and her powers didn't always make Dani one of the most popular people around. She could project your worst fears or greatest desires, and in a school full of teenagers, that was a powerful thing if you wanted to embarrass someone. All in all, it meant Dani Moonstar didn't get bothered all that much.

"Hiya Dani! Whats up chica?"

The young Cheyenne woman looked up from brushing her horse, her eyes narrowing just a little in suspicion at Jubilee's friendly tone. "Jubilee. What do I owe Little Miss Gossip's presence to, this morning?"

"Oh, er. Well I've been curious about a few things, and I was wondering if you could answer some questions for me? About Illyana Rasputin?"

Dani's eyes narrowed. "You've already talked to Sam and Kitty?"

Jubilee nodded.

"Then there's nothing more I can tell you. Peter could tell you more." Dani's answer was clearly a dismissal, glad that she'd found a way to not have to talk to Jubilee.

"Oh. Right. Thanks." Jubilee murmured and walked away, cursing under her breath the whole way. Well, if Moonstar wasn't going to talk to her, she could check the library again. It beat trying to talk to Peter Rasputin about his sister. She didn't figure that would go over to well, asking Petey about his little sister. If Kitty, Sam, and Dani got touchy and protective of her, then she could only figure what Pete's reaction would be.

* * *

Like many things, stumbling across the book in the library was an accident. It'd been slipped behind a musty old book that probably hadn't been read since Professor Xavier was a kid. Well, probably not that old, but still. At first, Jubilee couldn't figure out why someone slipped a diary behind books and hid it in the library.

Mumbling, she stopped by Kitty's room since Rogue managed to talk Logan into going shopping with her – _and she didn't even take me with her! Some friend._

"Hey Kit? Ya have any idea who Irene Adler was? The names sounding real familiar, but I can't remember who it was.."

Kitty just gave her a 'duh' look. "Irene Adler? Destiny! She was the future teller that hung around with the Brotherhood. Why?"

_Woah. Future teller? I'd better read this then, maybe it'll tell me something useful!_

"Oh, just doing some digging on the brotherhood and saw her name, but there wasn't anything appended for a code name. Thanks Kit!"

* * *

Jubilee was both excited, and disappointed, by what the book contained. While there were allusions to quite a few things, she didn't quite understand a lot of it. The language was too poetic, flowery, to take anything solidly. Yet she found what she thought was the entry about Inferno.

_The Elder's Child will cast open her eyes,_

_with a wider gaze she shall understand at last,_

_and as a Child of Light will sacrifice to buy safety for all,_

_for she must depart the world less she destroy it._

It all read like that, but in flipping through the entries, she was able to figure out a few things. That one was about Inferno and Illyana, she figured. Then there was one that mentioned a bird of fire and destruction admist a prison. Alcatraz. Most of them though, she had no clue what any of it meant.

"Gah. This is just stupid. I should probably give this to someone, it's an important book.." Then why was it hidden in the library, where anyone could get it? Just not in the most likely of places. She was kind of curious who had hidden it there, though. A teacher? The Professor? A former student?

Oo. This one looked interesting. In a gloomy sort of way.

_Chaos and Strife follow in her wake;_

_Blood nourishes the ground where she walks;_

_the Darkchyld comes again, both great and terrible;_

_with powers to dim even the Phoenix, friend and foe will quail before her;_

_Yet the danger to the world will be two fold, one by friend and one by foe..._

There was, it looked like, more. Yet the page had been ripped, and whatever it had said beneath that bit was now long gone. Jubes felt a chill move down her spine though, and before she knew it she was running for Miss Munroe's office.

"Miss Munroe!!" She had to share this with someone.


	3. Brothers Love, Chiefs Story

Explaining how she'd found the book, that had taken the longest. She'd been questioned repeatedly about exactly where in the library she'd found the diary. Ororo had even taken Jubilee down and made her show her where – twice! An hour apart, as if wanting to make sure Jubilee went to the same spot twice even! When Ororo finally seemed to believe Jubilee about where she'd found the book, Storm just seemed to deflate a little in a sight.

"I thought Charles was going to hide this where no one would ever find it. Although I suppose no one would have thought to look in the library." Her tone was somewhat crisp, strained, as she eyed the diary with a distasteful look.

"Why would he want to hide it, Miss Munroe? You could use it to tell the future, couldn't you?" Jubilee asked with a hopeful look.

"Yes, and no child. It depends on which side of the fence you sit on, regarding precognition. The two schools of thought go something like this. One side says that what people see is the set future, and regardless of what we do or act, what a true oracle predicts will come to pass. The other side, say that oracles just see what may be, and by making a prophecy increase the chances of something happening, especially if the prophecy is believed. From what I personally have observed, I am part of the second camp. Many of Destiny's predictions came true, and others have been proven wrong."

Storm was frowning, then though.

"Although, Destiny's fellows often claimed that they deliberately spread misinformation with some of her tellings, to confuse us. Charles and the original X-men thought it best to disregard Destiny's diaries and works, so they wouldn't be biased or inadvertently make a time line Destiny saw become the true time line."

"So you don't think the part I found is important? That it doesn't mean that Magik's going to come back?"

Storm shook her head. "No, Jubilee, I don't. I wish it was that simple, that Illyana would just come back. It's not. Forget what you've read, and you are forbidden from mentioning this to your friends. I don't want you upsetting Peter or Kitty with what ifs or could have beens about Illyana, do you understand me young lady?"

Part of the reprimand there, Jubilee realized, was for bringing this to Storm as well, who sounded hurt that she had to rationalize and debate if it would be good or bad if the entry Jubilee pointed out was about Illyana or not.

"Yes Miss Munroe. I won't mention it... or the diary at all." Holding her hands up at the stern gaze of Storm, Jubes realized this was one thing she wasn't going to break the rules on. Storm looked serious enough to sick Logan on her if she broke this promise. And that was the last thing she needed, for real.

* * *

Classes were boring, as was homework. Even the latest gossip just hadn't really had her interest. It was the Tuesday after she got lectured by Miss Munroe, when she came to a realization. Namely, that she had become somewhat obsessed with learning about Illyana Rasputin.

There was only one thing to be done for it. It didn't seem like Kitty would tell her more, although in reality she just hadn't asked yet. It was time to go straight to the source.. Peter Rasputin. If anyone could tell her anything, it'd be Illyana's brother, right?

So with a good bit of trepidation, Jubilee made her way through the boys dorm, and knocked on his door. Warren answered it with a grin. "Not here to see you, Wings, Peter in? Hey Pete, could we talk for a bit? Buzz off fly boy." Jubes bumped him with her hips as she slipped in the room, then gave Warren a bit of a shove to keep on going, but at least she didn't slam the door on him.

Granted, she would have but if she wanted to be in the boys dorms, they had to leave the door open or they'd get in trouble. Stupid rules.

"Hello Jubilee. What can I do for you?" She'd almost, almost, forgotten just how big Peter Rasputin was. Like, a mountain, compared to her. His arms were thicker then her neck, she couldn't help but noticing for perhaps the first time, as she looked at him. Then she realized that he wasn't lifting weights as she kind of figured he would be. He was standing by the corner, facing a canvas and working, only looking over at her occasionally. And those looks weren't rude, but they were somewhat blank, as if he couldn't think of any reason why she should be there.

"Hiya Petey. I wanted to ask you some questions.. err.. about your sister. See, after I found out she saved the world and er well, lots of us didn't even know who she was, so I thought maybe someone should write a tribute for her for the school paper, and I totally know I normally don't do this kind of thing, but I can't quit thinking about her ever since I heard about her, and I know I'm babbling and she's your sister, pleasedon'thitme."

At the end, Jubilees words had become a rush, and she knew she was babbling, but she wanted to get it all out of there before he would throw her out. However, when she finally opened her eyes again, she found that Peter was just looking at her in surprise, a thoughtful look on his face. After several long moments, he nodded.

"You wish to write a tribute to my sister, Jubilee? A good thing, about little Illyana?" He seemed wary, but not totally paranoid. Jubilee was a gossip, but she was also Kitty's friend, and doing anything bad about Illyana seemed to be a pretty big no brainer if one wanted to make enemies of Peter and Kitty.

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to do, but I don't know much about Illyana so I need to ask questions.." Jubes felt th eneed to re-emphasize her need to ask him questions, just so he didn't think she was only looking for his approval. Which she realized, would've been a horrible idea to do this without asking him – or even worse if she'd gone to someone else first. She was going to need to talk to Kitty again..

"Da. I will answer your questions about Little Snowflake."

Jubes made a relieved noise, then pulled out her notepad and pen. "Alright! First question, why'd you call her Little Snowflake?"

"It was the name all of the family used for Illyana. She has always been special, even in the family. Mother and Father have dark hair, like Mikhail and I. Illyana though, had pale skin and blond hair and blue eyes. Only member of family in last two generations to have hair that not black or brown." Peter shrugged.

"So Mikhail pointed out she was special, unique and different like snowflakes are always different." Peter nodded, smiled briefly, and went back to painting while Jubilee scribbled to get all of that down.

"How did Illyana get older?"

Peter seemed to be expecting this one. "Illyana was six, came to visit. No one has ever been sure, not even the Professor ever knew for sure. One moment Illyana was here, next gate opened and sucked her in. Kitty grabbed her ankle, and I grabbed Kitty. I grabbed tree, and pulled us against the force of the portal. Would have went in, but Doctor Grey came and helped when Professor felt our panic. Kitty, she lost hold of Illyana for a second, and all of us panicked, but a moment later she grabbed hold of Illyana's arm! With a massive tug by Doctor Grey and I, we pull Kitty and Yana free of the portal, and it closed behind her."

Peter grunted then. "Yana was still Yana, but.. older. She refused to talk to all of us about it, or what happened to her, but she aged naturally. 7 years, in a few minutes in the hell she was pulled into." Peter sounded sad, not angry.

"Little Snowflake was not so little. I failed to protect her. Illyana refused talking her past with anyone, except maybe Kitty. It did not matter though, what happened, we were all just happy to have Illyana safe and sound, older or not."

"Couldn't the Professor just peak in her head, to help her work through things?"

"The Professor would not do such a thing without permission, Jubilee." He sounded somewhat astounded she'd even suggest such a thing about Charles Xavier. Then again, Peter was one of those suckers for believing the best in people. She supposed he was a bit taken in, and didn't think the Professor wouldn't do that kind of thing if he had to. What Jubilee wondered, was did he, or was there a reason he didn't?

"So what happened?"

"Illyana went to school with us. She spent the rest of summer catching up to Kitty in classes, and had tutoring. Yana was very smart, she caught up easy." Peter smiled proudly at this, and Jubes thought she understood. A lot of people took Peter for a big dumb giant, and he was proud that his sister had been smarter. Jubes kind of wondered though, if Pete didn't just act dumb so he'd be left alone a lot. It seemed to her he had quite a few books on his side of the room, and he had to think about things to make those pretty paintings..

"Life was good. Yana brought life and cheer to the mansion, she liked to laugh and hated being bored. Made prank wars bigger than you or Drake ever get into. When her power manifested, she was the talk of the school. Able to teleport through space _and_ time. Snowflake, she was smart, powerful, and very beautiful." Again, Peter sounded proud.

And Jubilee realized something, then. Sooner or later the story was going to take a turn for the worse, and Peter was going to have to confront the tragedy of his sisters death. It made her stomach swim, and Jubilee had to frantically think about how to stop the interview before then. At least for today.

"So she was popular, and everything was going good?" That seemed like a safe comment, while she thought of a way to get out of asking more.

"Da. Until Christmas break. Katja went home for break, while we stayed here. Two nights before Christmas, Illyana had a bad dream. Woke up screaming, came to me. Told me that Kitty had been kidnapped. That we had to go save her. I did not understand, so I tried to get her to explain to me how she knew. She said she dreamed it, and I told her she was just afraid."

Peter frowned. "I should have believed Illyana. She was not wrong, but her screaming at me aroused others and Mr Summers came to see what was wrong – a girl screaming in the boys dorm. When he saw it was Illyana, and when she explained he just told her to go back to sleep."

Peter looked down at that. "None of us knew. Illyana screamed at us, and before we knew it there were demons around us, and a scrying pool. She had not changed my room but.. brought us all to somewhere else. She cast spells, showed us Kitty in trouble. Not until Mr Summers agreed to go save her, did Illyana return us."

Peter looked at the floor. "He made Mr Summers promise to take Yana and I with to save Kitty. We managed to arrive in time, Illyana's teleportation worked well. A group called Purity had gotten ahold of Kitty, somehow they knew she was a mutant. They were going to.." Peter again looked down.

"So Yana _knew_ Kitty was in trouble, and when no one believed her, she teleported you all to some place with demons, and showed you all she was in trouble? Then went with to save Kitty?" Jubilee had to blink her eyes, and had a hard time believing a 14 year old girl could have brow beaten Scott Summers as easily as Colossus made it sound.

"Da." He sounded uncomfortable with continuing the story, and Jubilee just nodded.

"I think that's enough for now, Peter. I've got enough to get a good start on what I'm writing, and I can get the rest of the questions from you later?" Peter's nodded lightened her heart, and she sped for the door with a backwards wave.

_How much weirdness am I going to find learning about this girl?_ From appearances so far? A lot.

* * *

Kitty had seemed happy about Jubilees idea of writing a tribute to Illyana, but she hadn't exactly offered to answer questions. Then again, Jubes hadn't asked yet. Besides, she figured it'd be better to try Dani again. She did not, strictly speaking, feel bad if questions she asked made Dani feel bad after all.

As last time, she found Dani Moonstar down at the stables, caring for the white stallion again. In a way, Jubes kind of took that for confirmation that the stallion was hers. Or at least her favorite.

"Heya Dani, got a minute?"

"Maybe. Depends on what you want the minute for, Jubilee." Not quite as hostile as last time, Jubes noticed. Maybe she'd heard about her talk with Sam and Peter?

"Well, I'm trying to get info on Illyana. I'm going to write a tribute for her in the school paper, I mean she saved the world and most of us don't even know who she was. I was kind of hoping you'd be willing to talk to me about her this time, Chief?" Jubes offered a grin.

"I'd heard. Sam said you were well intentioned, and Peter talked to you about her so.. I guess. But if you make this into a smear piece, you'll never have a good nights sleep again, Jubilee." Jubilee found herself taking a step back, from the look in Dani's eye, the absolute threat in her tone.

"Woah, chill. I'm not about to smeer one of my best friends 'sister', or one of my friends deceased little sister! I might like to gossip, Dani, but I'm not a horrible person." At least, Jubilee didn't think she was a bad person.

"Just so we're clear. Where did you want to start? One sec, let me grab some more grain for Brightwind." Dani slipped off to the storeroom, to return to refill the stallions trough, and began to brush his coat again, before nodding to Jubilee.

"Well, when did you first meet Illyana? Let's start there."

"I met her my first year here, the same as Sam. She was new, just like us. We didn't know about her accident for quite a while, she kept everything quiet. In fact, I think other then Kitty, I was the first one who found out that Illyana was... different." Dani brushed at her side with a distaste, as if remembering something painful.

"What do you mean?"

"Well. When I came to join the school, it was because my Grandfather thought it a good idea. My parents were archeologists, but had gone missing the year before. I thought we should be looking for them, but Grandpa had final say. What I didn't know, is he was trying to get me away from our home, and Cheyenne lands. When my parents disappeared, they woke up something ancient and evil, a demon of some kind. It was after me, and I didn't even know it until it came hunting me."

"Here." She gestured, at the outside of Xavier's. For a moment, Jubilee had to admit she was taken aback. Xavier's always seemed so peaceful to her, even with Logan there, she couldn't imagine anything or anyone being 'hunted' here. Yet, she knew she could. She just didn't want to imagine it. It made her remember the night the soldiers came...

"I detected it, and called my Grandpa. He told me not to fight it, but I thought I was strong. I would end whatever my parents had stirred. I was hurt kinda bad, and Illyana stopped it from killing me, chased the demon off. I didn't even wonder how she'd chased it off at first, I was too busy being ashamed of my failure, and being hurt. But once Doc Grey had me bandaged up in the infirmary, Yana came down to visit me."

Dani shrugged. "She offered to help me. Here was this little blond angel, who'd just saved me from a big demon bear, offering to help me fight an ancient evil spirit of my people. I was more then a little offended and surprised, until I saw her eyes. She wasn't joking, she was the most serious I'd seen her the whole year, then I remembered the sword she'd used on the demon."

Dani grinned then. "So I teamed up with her. We both almost got killed, but in the end it worked. We broke the curse, and freed my parents from the demon bear. From then on, Illyana was my friend."

Jubes just blinked a bit, more then a little confused. "I'm not sure I followed exactly. Your parents got cursed, and you two saved them from it? And Illyana had a sword?"

"Not just a sword. Illyana wielded the Soulsword, she always said it was part of her, that she'd made it from part of her own soul. It couldn't hurt normal things or people, just magical or supernatural things. It'd just pass right through you. But if something was magical, it was just about the nastiest weapon I could think of..." Dani trailed off, no doubt remembering seeing the weapon in use in memories.

"So what happened after you saved your parents?"

"Well, I spent a week in the infirmary... but the next month was Christmas, and that's when Kitty got kidnapped.."

"Peter told me about that."

"Good. Well, that was Illyana's 'outing'. After that, everyone knew there was something different about her. To some of us, it didn't matter. We knew Illyana before, and it didn't change who she was to us. To a lot of the students though, it was just too much. A demon sorceress. Things kept happening though, Illyana kept using her powers, and every time she did.."

Dani just sighed. "Her magic, that is. Not her teleportation. Every time she started casting spells, she started to turn more demonic. Horns, a tail, a forked tongue, fangs, cloven hooves.. It was slow though. We didn't notice it at first, but she started going a little further each time, becoming a little less like our Illyana every time she cast a spell or went to Limbo."

"She had to use her powers that much?"

"It was.. a lot more chaotic, then, Jubilee. Maybe just because Illyana was here, but we got attacked, or we snuck out to try and fight crime or solve mysteries, or she'd run away and we'd have to go after her.. The school has never been as chaotic as when Illyana was here. I guess that goes with having a teleporting time travelling demon sorceress around though?" Dani chuckled a little, at that.

"So uh. What finally happened?"

"Well.. It turned out two of her demons, S'ym and N'astirh had been plotting against her, Corrupting her ever since she'd first came back to earth. It was slow, so it wasn't obvious. By the time it was, they'd tricked her into opening a portal in Limbo to Earth, and they were marching the demon armies on New York.."

Jubilee eyed her with disbelief. "Are you serious? A demon army? Attacking New York?"

"Very. Wondering why no one remembers?"

"Uhm. Y'could say that?"

"Doctor Strange made everyone but those involved with the fight forget. It was pretty nasty business. Even Thor was there, to help fight the tide of demons. Illyana managed to break free in Limbo though, and she was talking pretty crazy but we couldn't stop her, all we could do was go with her. She took us to the center of the fighting, and we followed her."

Dani shook her head. "I'd say we helped, but she cleared a path by herself that day. It was like following the charge of a swords man in the stories. She swept demons clear with swipe after swipe of her sword, or blasts of magic from her right hand. Oh, occasionally Sam, Kitty, Peter or me got to hit one or two, but it was all we could do to keep up with Illyana. When she got to the source, she started throwing down with S'ym, and she was kicking his ass. Then she started raving about how she was going to make it all end.."

"We're not sure how she did it. Maybe it was magic, maybe she opened a portal. I don't know, but she started glowing. Brighter, and brighter, and none of us could look at her. Not even me, with my Death Sense. We guess she threw her sword up, because the light went up too, and then it just.. washed over the whole city. Demons were sucked into the same portal they'd come from, and buildings began righting themselves. Some damage remained, it looked like there'd been a fire.. Almost everyone forgot what happened that night, civilian wise. Doc Strange cast a spell to make sure it'd stick, just in case Yana's didn't.."

"And Yana?"

"Gone. Her armor was at the center of it all, beneath where the portal had been. It was charred, melted inward. She wasn't in it, but Doc Strange said last rights for her. She's something of a legend in the mystic community. The Demon Sorceress who triumphed over evil, ya know? She called herself Magik, but others called her the Darkchyld I guess. Well, after that, she was refered to as the Lightchyld sometimes too, and one of the big parts of the story according to some is that she glowed like an angel at the end. She was bright, but what she looked like... none of us know."

Jubes was confused, and needed clarification. "Err.. Mystic community?"

"Community. Of Mystics. The Asgardian Gods, the Olympians, the mages, all the people involved with things that go bump in the night.."

"Oh. I just.. kind of figured Illyana was alone in being a witch."

"Not hardly, Jubilee. What do you think Brightwind?" She asked her horse, who neighed at her, and Jubilee felt her bum hit the floor of the stable. The white stallion she'd seen so many times _had wings coming out of it's flanks._

"Brightwind is a Pegasus, Jubes. He chose me for a rider during one of our little erm.. Adventures with Illyana in Asgard."

Jubilee wasn't in any rush to get off the floor. The whole world had gone insane.

"Er.."

"Little too much information for you to handle at once, Jubes? I know how you feel. C'mon, I'll walk with you back up to the mansion. A little caffeine will fix you up."

"Thanks Chief..."

How much had she missed, right in front of her, because she'd never considered magic might be real?


End file.
